How Young is Too Young?
by jellybean96
Summary: It's Valentine's Day around the Ward Household, but Grant's not particularly pleased with how this one is going. *Part 4 of the Housewives!AU*


**Hey babes! Gotta a new little piece for you here in the Housewives!AU. Pretty sure I've had this one sitting in my files since last Valentine's, but it wasn't finished back then. It's finished now, though, so I'm here posting it for you. This one was pretty fun to write and I was happy to get back into another little world that I created with a friend. **

**Enjoy! **

* * *

Hearing some quiet humming coming from the living room, Grant pauses in unloading the dishwasher, standing up straight and listening for just a moment. He turns and makes his way out of the kitchen with furrowed brows.

Stepping into the living room, he finds his youngest child kneeling in front of the coffee table, various art supplies spread out around her. Their Saint Bernard, Billy, lying comfortably at her side.

"Marie? Honey, what are you doing?"

"Making a card, daddy," the five-year-old answers with a sigh as she continues coloring.

"Who's the card for, sweetheart?" he asks, sitting down on the couch behind her, racking his brain trying to think of any upcoming holidays that would have his five-year-old daughter making a card for someone.

"My boyfriend."

Grant's eyes go wide and he nearly chokes on his own saliva. "I'm sorry, what?" That is not the answer he was expecting. At all. Not by a long shot.

"My boyfriend, daddy," she repeats with a small sigh that reminds him so much of his wife. "His name's Matt."

He shifts uncomfortably on the couch. "Um, okay. And where do you know Matt from, baby girl?"

"He's in my class."

"And why are you making him a card?"

"It's for Valentime's Day."

"You mean Valentine's Day?" he corrects her.

"Yeah."

Grant nods. "Ah. And um, why do you feel like you need to have a boyfriend and give him a card on Valentine's Day?"

"Because I love him, daddy."

Grant's eyes go wide once more at the statement from his five-year-old. "You lo—um, okay." He takes a deep breath. "You keep coloring, sweetheart. I'm gonna go find your mom."

"She's upstairs," Marie tells him.

"Right, thank you." He stands from the couch and drops a kiss to the top of her head before turning and making his way up to the second level of the house.

"Dad!"

He stops and turns to the room near him, leaning inside the open doorway. "Yeah, bud?"

"What's fourteen times twenty-three?"

"Math homework?" Grant asks, quirking a brow.

The boy shrugs. "Yeah."

"Then figure it out on your own, CJ. I'm not going to do your homework for you."

CJ sighs. "Fine."

"Hey, have you seen your mom?"

"She's in your guys' bedroom."

"Great, thanks, bud." He gives his son a small smile before turning away from the doorway and continuing down the hall.

Stepping inside the master bedroom, he finds his wife standing on one side of the bed, a basket of laundry sitting in the middle with multiple piles of clothes set around it.

"We need to see if we can get Marie into a different class at school."

Skye looks up at him, her brows furrowed deeply in confusion as she continues folding the family's laundry. "What? Why the hell would we do that? Cole's in her class and you know how close they are. Besides, she really likes her class."

"Yeah, well, maybe she likes it a little bit too much."

"What do you mean?"

He shifts on his feet and takes a deep breath. "Apparently, our daughter, our sweet, precious, adorable, innocent baby girl, has a...boyfriend."

"Oh. You mean Matt?"

Grant's eyes go wide. "What?"

Skye rolls her eyes at her husband's dramatics, setting a folded pair of pants on top of one of the piles. "Relax, babe, it's harmless. Are these Connor's or CJ's?" she asks, holding up a pair of red and black basketball shorts.

"Connor's, I think. And how is it harmless?"

Skye folds the shorts and sets them in a pile before looking at her husband. "Marie's five. She probably thinks that having a boyfriend at her age means playing together at recess, sitting together at lunch, and sharing snacks."

"That better be all she thinks it means."

"Seriously? She's practically a baby, Grant. What else is she going to think it means?"

"I don't know. But I don't like this."

"You don't have to like it, but that's the way it is right now. I'm sure once she gets a bit older she'll think boys have cooties."

Grant sighs. "Good."

She tilts her head. "Then again, once she becomes a teenager she could possibly be very boy crazy. I mean, I was pretty boy crazy when I was younger. And boys were pretty crazy about me too, especially once I got to high school. I was one of the rare few who wasn't incredibly awkward looking at that point. And they say sometimes that your kids will do what you did as a kid as a way of karma. I really worry for us with her if that's the case."

"See, when you say stuff like that it doesn't make me feel any better about this whole thing."

Skye laughs quietly and sets down the half-folded t-shirt in her hands. She walks over to her him and wraps her arms up around his neck, her fingers threading into his hair as she rises on her toes a little. "Grant, I love you. And I love how great you are with the kids and how protective you are, some of the time, but you need to relax, okay? Marie is going to be fine."

"She's our baby. Our youngest."

"And our last," she adds with a quirked brow.

He nods. "Right, I know. You take every opportunity to remind me."

"Because I don't want you to think that we're having any more children."

"What if we adopt?" he suggests innocently.

"I love children, babe, especially ours, but I don't think I could handle more kids. We've got six, I think that's plenty for us."

"I'm not saying we actually adopt," he tells her. "It was more just one of those passing thoughts." He steps toward her and wraps his arms around her waist to hold her close. "I love you and would never subject you to having to birth more children."

"Yeah, that's what you said after each kid and now look where we are."

He sighs. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

She smiles and leans up to kiss him quickly. "Never." She pulls away from him and glances over at the clock on the nightstand. "Can you finish up the laundry?" she asks, turning back to her husband.

"Yeah, sure. What's up?"

She shakes her head. "Nothing. I'm just supposed to be meeting up with Jemma in a bit."

"Right. I got this. I'll have Tray finish putting the dishes away for me."

She smiles. "You're the best." She leans up to give him one more kiss before exiting their bedroom and moving downstairs to go meet up with her best friend.

.

.

.

"Grant almost had an aneurysm today," Skye remarks as she and Jemma make their way through the grocery store, pushing their individual shopping carts in front of them.

Jemma's brows furrow together. "What? Why?"

"Matt."

Jemma nods in understanding. "Ah, yes. Marie's supposed boyfriend."

Skye rolls her eyes, pushing her cart down the cleaning aisle. "Not you too."

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to." She leans down and eyes the dish soaps on the shelf in front of her.

"It's sweet," Jemma tells her honestly.

"Well, Grant certainly didn't seem to think so." She grabs a container of soap and tosses it into her cart. "It's harmless, though, so I don't understand why he's getting all worked up about the whole thing."

"She's his only daughter and the youngest. He's bound to worry about her more than he does the boys."

"Yeah, well, he needs to learn to relax a little." She and Jemma continue making their way through the store, grabbing what they need when they see it.

"Just give it some time."

"How much time?"

Jemma shrugs. "I don't know. I'm just glad that at least Leo and I don't have to worry about our son's little crush."

"What crush? Wait, which son?"

"Cole."

Skye's brows furrow. "Who's his crush? Another little girl in his class? Wait, is it Marie? Oh my goodness, that'd be so cute." She smiles.

"Actually, it's you."

"What's me?"

"Cole's crush. He has a crush on you, Skye."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. Oh, come on," she says at the look on the woman's face. "You know he's always had a bit of a crush on you from the moment he could start recognizing you. You're his auntie Skye, he loves you."

She sighs. "Honestly, I kind of forgot about his crush on me."

"You did?"

"I have six kids to take care of, Jem."

"Yes, I know."

"Also, sometimes I find it a little hard to believe that going to the grocery store without any of my kids is considered relaxing to me now."

"Well, it's like you said, you have six kids to take care of."

"I know what I said. Now come on, I still have to pick up some stuff to make treats for the kids' class parties." She begins pushing her cart toward the baking aisle.

"You're really going to make treats for all six classes?"

"Only for CJ, Nate, and Marie. Apparently, Tray, Alex, and Connor think they're too cool to have their mom make treats for them to bring to school on Valentine's Day. Or something lame like that," she says with a dismissive wave.

"They're growing up, Skye."

She sighs. "Yes, Jemma, I'm well aware of that fact. I guess I can't really blame them, though. When I was their age I probably would have felt the exact same way. I just don't like the fact that they're getting older. And yes, I know it's a part of life, that your kids get older, but it doesn't mean I have to be happy about it."

"So then just focus on the time you have with them now while they're still living in your house. That's what Fitz and I do with ours."

"Yes, but you have almost half the kids that I do, Jem."

"Doesn't mean you can't still put in the effort."

Skye rolls her eyes and continues through the grocery store, pushing her shopping cart in front of her as she searches for what she needs.

.

.

.

"Marie? Sweetheart, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Okay, mommy." Marie shifts on her bed, shoving her coloring book and crayons onto the carpeted floor.

Skye sighs at the new mess to be cleaned up later and sits down on the small bed, pulling her daughter comfortably into her lap.

Marie smiles up at her. "Hi, mommy."

"Hi, sweetheart." She shifts a little on the bed, brushing some of her daughter's hair out of her face. "So, mommy wants to talk to you about something really important."

"Okay. What?"

"Your friend Matt."

"He's not my friend, mommy."

Skye quirks a brow. "He's not?"

The little girl shakes her head. "No. He's my boyfriend."

"And why is Matt your boyfriend, sweet girl?"

"'Cause he makes me laugh. And he gives me his snacks. And we sit together at lunch and at circle time and we play together at recess."

"Okay. And why do you think all of that makes him your boyfriend?"

"You and daddy."

Her brows furrow. "What?"

"Daddy makes you laugh. And he gives you his food sometimes. And you always sit together and play grown-up games together. But you're married. And I don't wanna get married. But CJ said people sometimes have girlfriends and boyfriends before they get married so Matt is my boyfriend."

"There's no possible way for me to convince you not to have a boyfriend, is there?"

Marie shakes her head. "No."

Skye sighs at how similar she and her daughter are in their personalities. It really is going to be the death of her one day. "Alright. Just...go easy on your dad, okay? Don't talk about Matt all the time when you're with your dad."

"Why?"

"Because your daddy wants you to be his baby girl forever and doesn't like the idea that you have a boyfriend."

"Oh. But I still love daddy."

Skye smiles and presses a kiss to the top of her daughter's head. "I know you do, sweet pea."

.

.

.

"It's our fault."

"What's our fault?" Grant asks, turning away from the closet in their bedroom to face his wife, his brows furrowed in confusion as he slips one of his old college t-shirts on to sleep in.

"Our daughter having a boyfriend," Skye tells him, pulling her hair out of its updo.

His eyes go wide. "Our fault? How the hell is that our fault? I don't remember ever encouraging her to go around liking boys. In fact, I think I've probably discouraged it a number of times."

She sighs. "It's our fault because she sees the way we are with each other and thinks that's how people are when they get married. But she doesn't want to get married, and CJ told her that before people get married they have a boyfriend or girlfriend. So I guess it's our fault and our son's fault."

"Huh." The edges of his lips quirk. "That's actually pretty sweet."

"So that means you're going to stop being so weird about our five-year-old having a boyfriend?"

He shakes his head. "Absolutely not."

"Grant…"

"I'm sorry, Skye. But she's my little girl, did you really expect anything different from me when it comes to her?"

She pulls off her shirt and tosses it at him so he can put it in the laundry hamper, catching one of his old college shirts when he throws it back at her. "Honestly? I didn't know what to expect. We'd had only boys up until Marie so it's new territory for the both of us." She shimmies out of her jeans and tosses them to Grant, taking the sweatpants he throws at her.

"I know that," Grant says, placing Skye's clothes into the laundry hamper before closing the closet door. He sighs, falling down onto the edge of the bed. "I'm just...I guess I'm not really in any hurry to see her growing up. To see any of the kids growing up, really. But I know it's going to happen whether I like it or not. And I don't."

"You think I don't want that too?" she questions, climbing onto the bed and kneeling behind him, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck and leaning around to look at him. "You think I don't miss the days when Tray was going through his daredevil phase despite how often I had to patch him up? Or when Connor was learning how to read and insisted on reading _us _a story before he went to bed? Or really when any of our boys were Marie's age and would willingly cuddle with me no matter the time of day? I don't want them to grow up either, Grant, but it's happening."

He turns his head to look at her, pressing a quick kiss to her lips. "I know it is. And you're such an incredible mother, I don't know how you keep up with them all day."

"It's easier during the school year when none of them are home."

They share a quick laugh before Grant turns around on the bed, allowing Skye to sit in his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist to hold her there.

"I love you so much," he tells her.

She smiles. "I love you too, babe. Now if you're done with your internal crisis can we please go to sleep? I'm very tired and I still have all of those cookies to bake tomorrow for the kids' parties at school."

"I guess we can sleep now."

"Good." She gives him one last kiss before climbing off his lap and moving to her side of the bed, immediately burying herself under the covers and rolling onto her side.

Grant just laughs quietly and shakes his head, moving off the bed to shut off the lights before joining his wife in their bed, curling up behind her and holding her close.

.

.

.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Auntie Skye!"

Skye smiles at the little curly-haired boy in front of her, his hands held securely behind his back as he rocks back and forth on his feet. "Thank you, Cole."

"Sweetheart," Jemma speaks up to her son, "go on." She gently nudges at his back.

Cole takes a small step forward. He kicks his toes against the cement. "Um, I made...I made you something."

She quirks a brow. "You did?"

He nods. "Mm-hmm."

She kneels down in front of him and smiles softly. "Well can I see it?"

"Okay." He slowly pulls his hands out from behind his back and holds out a piece of pink construction paper, folded almost in half, with sloppy five-year-old handwriting on the front of it.

She takes the card from him and reads over the front of it with a small smile on her face. She looks back at her nephew. "I love it, Cole. Thank you. Can I get a hug?" she asks him, holding her arms open a little.

The little boy beams and then leaps into her arms, wrapping his own smaller arms around her neck, hugging her tightly. "I love you too, Auntie Skye."

She kisses the boy's cheek before pulling back, laughing quietly to herself when he ducks his head, a hint of pink on his cheeks. He glances up at her through his eyelashes before darting back over to Jemma and burying his face in her leg.

"Mommy, can we go to school now?" Marie speaks up. "I wanna give everybody your cookies. They're the best."

Skye smiles over at her daughter. "Yeah, baby girl, we can go."

"But first I wanna give Auntie Jemma a cookie," Marie states, struggling for a minute to open the Tupperware container that she insisted on carrying herself. She pulls one of the heart-shaped sugar cookies and holds it up to Jemma.

The woman smiles and takes the cookie from her niece. "Thank you, sweetheart."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Auntie Jemma."

"Happy Valentine's Day to you too, Marie."

"Now come on, mommy," Marie says, looking up at Skye with determination in her eyes. "We hafta go so I can give Matt his cookie before anybody else gets a cookie."

"Why's that, sweet girl?" Skye asks, despite the feeling that she already knows the answer.

"Because's he's my boyfriend."

* * *

**So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.**

**Also, I want to get back into writing for this universe, and I have a few ideas of what I want to write, so I might start doing those. But if any of you have any ideas of what you'd like to see, let me know. I'm open to suggestions. :)**

**Until next time,  
Jellybean96 out!**


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